Passing the Torch
by PrairieLily
Summary: Ducky's influence on Jimmy shows itself. McAbby implied, it's now ensemble. Note, okay, I thought this was a oneshot. Clearly it's a... sevenshot? COMPLETE. Starting in chapter 5, Jimmy begins his haunting tale...
1. The Legacy Begins

**Title:** **Passing the Torch**

**Rating:** K

**Disclaimer:** Much as I wish they were, Jimmy and Ducky are not mine. No infringement intended.

**Summary:** Ducky realizes that he's been having an influence on his young assistant. No pairings, just Ducky and Jimmy folks! Oneshot.

* * *

Dr. Donald Mallard and his assistant, Mr. Jimmy Palmer, stood on either side of the stainless steel autopsy table, carefully scrutinizing the body before them.

"Even without toxicology, Mr. Palmer, I think we can safely say that this man was three sheets to the wind when he died." Ducky shook his head at the stupidity of their latest unfortunate.

Jimmy took on a thoughtful look. "That's an interesting analogy, Doctor. Actually, that phrase comes from the world of seafaring, and the term sheets refers to one of the types of ropes that held the sails in place." Ducky gave Jimmy an odd look, one that the older man failed to realize was more or less the same look that he received so often from others when he himself began to wander off topic.

"When one of ropes, or sheets, came loose, the sail would flap in the wind," Jimmy continued, waving his hand in the air as a free-flying boat sail might. "When two of them came loose, the ship's progress would become unsteady. But if three of them came loose, they caused the ship to reel, like a drunken sailor."

Ducky gave his assistant a blank look, as he bent over slightly and leaned on the edge of the table with his elbows. Jimmy suddenly looked down at him, and smiled warmly.

"Digression, Mr. Palmer," Ducky started to say, when Jimmy smiled again and held up a finger.

"Is the sincerest form of flattery, Sir."

Ducky smiled. "That's not quite what I was going to say, Jimmy. But it works."

Jimmy grinned at this, then turned, eyes sparkling with mischief and amusement, and picked up a tray of vials. "I'll get these over to Abby right away for toxicology. I think she'll find this guy's BAC will be through the roof."

Ducky watched his assistant thoughtfully as the young man picked up a clipboard and walked out of the morgue, vials and evidence custody documentation in hand. The old man paused a moment as he sighed with sudden contentment and satisfaction.

"Ah, Mr. Palmer," he said to himself softly, "the torch of digression has been successfully passed on to yet another young storyteller. Yes, dear fellow, you will do quite nicely someday."


	2. The Ghost of a Normal Day

Author's Note: Okay, I've done it again. I thought Passing the Torch was a oneshot. I was wrong. It's now turned into a total of 7 chapters... don't blame me. Blame Gertrude Louise Genevieve, LOL! For reference, Jimmy mentioned having a niece in "Hometown Hero," but nothing else was ever mentioned about her. I've given her the name of "Alyssa" or "Lyssie" for short, and referenced her in this story.

* * *

Chapter 2 – The Ghost of a Normal Day

The day had started out normally enough.

Ducky and Jimmy were wrapping up an autopsy, Ducky standing back and letting Jimmy take the lead for the first time. The young man had to learn sometime, Ducky thought. Anyway, if Mr. Palmer weren't capable and qualified, he'd have fired him a long time ago. He just needed guidance for a while yet, was all. Ducky smiled to himself as he observed his young assistant. Still a bit rough around the edges, but he'd do just fine with time and experience.

Abby was running the first of many tests in her lab, her music blaring and her pigtails swinging in unison with the wild beat emanating from her boom box. She pumped her arms and did a happy dance as one of her "babies" spat out desired results, confirming what she already suspected about the evidence she'd been given to process. She moved to an open area and executed a gleeful cartwheel.

In the squad room, Tony was running a search for an elusive suspect, based on credit card usage, and grinning smugly to himself as he found the information he needed in a fairly quick fashion. He wondered if Probie's search was going so smoothly.

Tim was hacking into a suspect's computer, and rolling his eyes at how easy it was. Clearly, "firewall" was not in the guy's vocabulary. Well, it served him right for being so careless.

Ziva was glaring at Gibbs, waiting to be given a job to do. She'd already given their suspect a name, and provided the names of several witnesses, but after that, she didn't know what else needed to be done. Tony and Tim seemed to be covering the other boulevards… or, was that… avenues? She wasn't sure, but she didn't care at that point. Ziva David was bored silly.

And Gibbs… Gibbs was sipping on coffee, at his desk, quietly absorbing the information his team had collectively accumulated thus far, and presented to him in a neat, legal-sized folder.

Gibbs, upon review of the information they'd collected, decided that the entire team needed a little field trip down into autopsy.

Ziva arose eagerly, glad to have a break in the quiet monotony.

And thus began a most interesting afternoon, down in the room of the dead, where, as they were soon to discover, there dwelled not just one, but _two_ generations of avid storytellers...


	3. SNAFU

Chapter 3 - SNAFU

"You see, Jethro, this man only appears at first glance to have died from a gunshot wound," Ducky said, as the team gathered around he and Jimmy.

"I don't suppose the third degree burns covering…" Gibbs started, when Jimmy thoughtfully volunteered, "Eighty-five percent, Agent Gibbs."

"Eighty-five percent of his body, had anything to do with it?" Gibbs finished, glancing briefly at Jimmy with a small and subtle expression of thanks.

Ducky glanced to his assistant to continue where he'd begun. Jimmy nodded at his boss in acknowledgement, then said to the team in general, and Gibbs in particular, "No, actually. Believe it or not, the burns were post-mortem, judging by the lack of soot in his lungs. There was no evidence of smoke inhalation. He wasn't breathing when he was set on fire."

"So the fire was probably set to cover something up, then?" Tony asked, as Tim looked on.

Ducky nodded, "Most likely, yes, Tony."

Abby and Tim glanced at eachother and shrugged, and Ziva was about to ask another question, when the lights went out.

"Oh… SNAFU," Tony was heard saying.

"SNAFU, Tony?" Jimmy's voice was heard in the darkness.

Tony unwisely chose to elaborate. "Situation Normal All Fuh…" but his words were cut off as Gibbs' hand instinctively found the back of his head in the darkness of the morgue.


	4. Anyone Game?

Chapter 4 – Anyone Game?

"Oh, COOL," Abby said, sounding like an excited little girl. "Total darkness in the morgue!"

"Speak for yourself, Abs," Tim said, with just the slightest hint of annoyance. He didn't mind being in the morgue, minded it only slightly more with the lights out like this, but he really wasn't sure how he felt about his girlfriend being so enthusiastic about the whole thing. Of course, he should have expected that.

"I suppose we're trapped in here until the power comes back on?" Ziva asked. The Mossad officer was frustrated again. Here, she had finally thought she'd be involved in something productive, and then it had been snatched away, quite abruptly and rudely, she thought.

"I'm afraid so, Ziva," Ducky said, regretfully, secretly grateful that Jimmy had chosen to put the body away in the cooler before the team had arrived down in autopsy. They didn't need to see the charred remains of the young Navy Lieutenant in order for their findings to be effectively conveyed.

"Seems to me this is a perfect place for a ghost story," Tony said, with a hint of childish glee in his voice. Abby giggled beside him.

"Well, Duck, looks like you've got a captive audience," Gibbs said, with a sigh. "If we can find our way to a clear spot on the floor, we might as well settle in."

"Oh, I'm afraid I haven't any ghost stories at the moment, Jethro," Ducky said, with a great deal of regret in his distinguished brogue. Here he had a perfect chance to tell a story, and he was fresh out.

A soft "ahem" was heard next to him, and a sharp intake of breath. "I'm not, Sir." A flashlight was suddenly turned on, illuminating the grinning face of Jimmy Palmer.

"I have a niece, don't forget. And she loves stories. Ghost stories in particular. She has favourite, if anyone's game?"


	5. Lyssie's Favourite Story Begins

Chapter 5 – Lyssie's Favourite Story Begins

"The story of this particular ghost begins when she was a young lass, and one of the palace servants. She allegedly had an illicit affair with one of the Princes - Prince James," Jimmy began. "Prince James was third in line for the throne."

The group sat in an open space on the morgue floor, enough flashlights having been rounded up to illuminate the group in ones and twos.

"Oh, come on Jimmy," Abby said, trying not to giggle. "Prince James? You're making that up!"

Jimmy grinned at her. "Well, YEAH, Abby, of course I'm making it up. Storyteller's prerogative. I can name the main character whatever I want." Abby stuck her tongue out at him briefly as Jimmy simply smiled at her with a mischievous expression.

"He must've done a lot of cross-legged hopping around in front of the Royal Loo," Tony smirked, earning a tap on the back of the head from both Abby and Gibbs.

Jimmy looked towards Tony, shaking his head and laughing softly, then continued.

"Now, Prince James WAS third in line, until a series of unfortunate incidents eliminated his two brothers, who were in line before him. Nobody knows for sure what happened, but the first one mysteriously became ill, and died from an ailment never before seen by the palace physicians. Medical science would now find that it was arsenic poisoning," Jimmy said, with mystery dripping off of his words.

"This left Prince James second in line - until his older brother also died, under what Doctor Mallard and I would both consider to be suspicious circumstances," Jimmy continued, clearly getting into, and enjoying his role of storyteller. He hadn't realized until that moment how much Dr. Mallard's influence was beginning to manifest itself in him.

"Let me guess," said Ziva, her brown eyes sparkling with enthusiastic interest. "A certain Prince - now the direct heir to the throne - is forced to jilt his secret lover, in favour of a more suitable Queen?"

Jimmy nodded, pointing affirmatively at Ziva. "Bingo. Nobody considered at the time that perhaps this humble kitchen servant might have had anything to do with putting her Prince right smack into the position to be crowned King. Of course, both the Princes in line before James were poisoned by the girl, as we would now be able to determine fairly easily."

"Wow, obviously she was pretty pissed when he dumped her," said Tim, as Abby gripped his hand, squeezing it gleefully. She loved a good ghost story, but mostly, she loved it when she had Timmy to snuggle up to.

"Oh, yes," Jimmy said. "She caused so much trouble for him that in order to maintain his claim to the throne, he had to keep her quiet. He had her falsely accused of theft, shackled, and thrown into the Tower of London, to await execution, by beheading." He glanced at Ducky, whose blue eyes sparkled. It was nice to tell stories, but sometimes it was a wonderful treat to just sit back and listen, too.

"What happened to his father then, in the meantime? The reigning King?" Tony asked, suddenly.

Jimmy smiled. "Well, considering the kitchen servant's _modus operandi_, what do YOU think happened to him?"

Tony nodded. "Ah. The evil kitchen wench scored a hat trick. Got it."

Jimmy nodded in confirmation, and then continued. "Little did our Prince, who was about to be crowned King James, know that by ridding himself of the threat of a scandal that could well have jeopardized his reign, his troubles had only just begun - troubles that would come to him from beyond the grave of his wrongly murdered lover," Jimmy said, leaving the rest hanging in the air just to milk the moment.


	6. Scorning the Woman

Chapter 6 – Scorning the Woman

Jimmy was beginning to see the appeal of this storytelling business. Well, Alyssa always loved his stories, after all. But, she was also 9 years old. On the other hand, this audience seemed fairly interested. Maybe he shouldn't sell himself short, after all.

"ANYWAY," Jimmy continued, after Tony had glared at him to continue, "The newly crowned King was drunk on power and disbelief from taking over his father's vast empire. The kingdom marveled at how this young Prince had risen to claim the crown. Figuring it to be fate, they turned out in droves for his coronation. As it happened, it was here that the new King learned of his mother's desire to have him marry the Princess of Spain."

"Ah, international romance," Ziva said, smiling softly. "Such a lovely thing under the right circumstances."

Jimmy grinned at her. "Maybe, maybe not. These definitely weren't the right circumstances though, Ziva. Now, the new King had two problems with this, first, that his prospective bride was Catholic, and second, she wasn't exactly a dazzling beauty. However, unbeknownst to him, before his father's death, the former king had made a betrothal pact with the king of Spain that one of his sons would marry the Spanish King's only daughter, thus ensuring an empire powerful enough to conquer the world."

"Arranged marriage? That's so… wrong," Abby huffed with disgust.

Jimmy paused a moment again, for dramatic effect, then carried on. "So you see, the newly crowned King had a problem – the pact with the King of Spain would have to be eliminated, but without hurting his mother, who he adored, and was devoted to, especially since the passing of his father, which she had taken very hard."

McGee cut in suddenly with a question, partly for verification, and partly to inspire Abby to scoot just a wee bit closer to him. "Don't some say that ghosts appear as they last appeared in life? Since this girl was beheaded, she must have been quite a bloody sight."

"That's right," Jimmy said, nodding affirmatively. "Actually, Tim, your question ties in perfectly with what happened next. The King's mother, in her chambers getting ready for bed on the night before the wedding, was found the next morning, sprawled across her floor - her auburn hair snow white, her hand clutching at her chest, and an expression of unspeakable terror frozen forever across her once-beautiful face," Jimmy said.

Jimmy glanced once again at Ducky. The older man looked surprisingly content to be a listener, and not the storyteller, and his face held the expression of approval that Jimmy was learning to recognize as his mentor's way of saying, "Carry on, Mr. Palmer, you're doing very nicely."

Taking the cue from Ducky, Jimmy continued with the story.

"The bride's lady-in-waiting found the bride as well, but not in her chambers... She was found outside, floating face-down in the fishing pond that the previous King used to like to relax at - her skirts splayed around her, her raven hair floating like a halo around her head. Nobody could imagine why this girl would commit suicide on the eve of her wedding to a handsome monarch, the newly crowned King of the British Empire." Jimmy stretched out his long legs, and repositioned himself against the wall, stalling a little bit for effect. "Some speculated that perhaps she had second thoughts, and believed that suicide was the only way out of the pact. Nobody even considered that she might have been driven to it by a ghostly spectre from beyond the grave."

"The ghost of the scorned servant girl returning from the grave to reap her revenge?" Gibbs suddenly asked, causing his entire team, plus Ducky and Jimmy, to glance at him in shocked surprise. Gibbs blue eyes sparkled with interest, and then darkened briefly, and defensively.

"Hey, I like a good ghost story, too. I'm not THAT stuffy," he sniffed. He glared at Ducky's young assistant to continue. Jimmy's flinch was barely perceptible, as he hastily continued the tale.

"Oh, yes," he said. "She was back, and she was MAD. It is true - hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and this one was going to get her man, no matter what it took, and no matter what side of the grave they were on."

Abby and Ziva both giggled. "You GO girl," Abby said, as she and Ziva exchanged a knowing wink.

Jimmy shook his head slightly and suppressed a grin, before continuing. "Now released from the pact of betrothal made years ago, the King was torn by relief from not having to marry the Spanish Princess, and grief over the loss of his mother," he said, clearly immersing himself in his role as storyteller. Okay, so, maybe his storytelling skills weren't meant to be appreciated only by those under the age of twelve, after all…

"But, the ghost of the scorned lover wasn't finished yet. Not only was she not going to let him marry anyone else, but she wanted revenge on him as well - for falsely accusing her, and having her prematurely placed in her grave, even before her 18th birthday. Some things, you just don't get over. Death being the top of the list," he said, glancing at Ducky.

"That, Mr. Palmer, is most accurate. Even as medical examiners, we study death very closely and in great detail, but we have yet to find a cure for it." Ducky's blue eyes sparkled behind his glasses.

"The ghost started out slowly, and with subtlety. She began by doing little things, significant enough for the new King to notice, but not significant enough for him to be bothered by them, at least, not right away. His shoes out of place, gems missing from his crown one moment, and returned the next. Furniture out of place, items not exactly where they had been left last. Then she upped the ante, and began to whisper to him, unseen. He tried to shrug it off as lingering guilt, but the ghost wouldn't retreat. Oh, no - she was only just beginning to destroy him."


	7. Eternal Haunting

Chapter 7 – Eternal Haunting

Jimmy paused as Tony suddenly produced a bottle of water from McGee's backpack. Tim glared at him briefly, then shrugged it off as Tony just being Tony. The senior agent handed the blue Dasani bottle to Jimmy, and the younger man gratefully took a long pull from it, refreshing his throat. He nodded in gratitude, then continued.

"Then she escalated the haunting. She began to appear to him in his dreams, until finally he was suffering from insomnia so severe that he began to lose his mind from sleep deprivation. And then, once she had him beginning to lose his grip on reality, she once again turned it up a notch," he said mysteriously.

"She began to appear to him while he was awake," Jimmy said, and glancing over at Tim, said, "in all her bloody, headless glory - her head propped under one arm, - her once radiant hair hanging limply, and caked with her own blood."

"You, um… you say this is your niece's favourite story?" Gibbs asked, suddenly.

Abby answered for him. "Oh, Lyssie is the coolest little girl. She's very mature for her age. But she likes scary stories."

Jimmy nodded affirmatively. "Lyssie does like creepy stories. Fortunately I'm not responsible for that interest. Abby, on the other hand… I'm not so sure. Anyway, rest assured, Alyssa only gets the G rated version of this one." He made a slight face at Abby as their resident Goth stuck her tongue out at him.

"Anyway, as I was saying, as the ghost's haunting of the King escalated, he truly began to lose his grip on reality. Finally, she was haunting him his every waking hour - which by now was all the time since he couldn't sleep. Driven by guilt at murdering his one true love, one damp, foggy night, he vanished from the castle. His broken body was found the next day, at the foot of the Tower of London. He had climbed to the very top of the Tower, and had jumped to his death. He had been driven to suicide by the horrid ghostly visions, and his nagging guilt. You see, even though he'd had nothing to do with his rapid rise to the throne, he'd had everything to do with the untimely death of the woman who wanted nothing more than for him to be happy - but with her as his Queen, and no one else."

The group sensed that this tale was about to come to an end, but nonetheless, their attention didn't waver.

"To this day, they say, the spirits of the servant girl and the King haunt not just this world - but each other as well, damned forever to torture one other in the afterlife, with revenge that will be played out for eternity, and guilt that will never be absolved," Jimmy concluded. He sat back against the wall again, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Oh, that was awesome," Abby said, squeezing Tim's hand again. She was about to jump up and initiate applause, when the lights came back on.


End file.
